show, sponsored initially by Sterling Drugs, manufacturers of Mollé Brushless Shaving Cream, began airing on Tuesday evenings during prime time. In 1948, Mollé ceased sponsoring the program, and its title became Mystery Theater. 1960s to 1970s In 1967, Sterling Drug acquired Lehn & Fink, the makers of Lysol, Resolve, and d-CON. In 1974, Sterling opened a manufacturing plant in McPherson, Kansas and Aurora, Ontario. The various companies which would eventually acquire Sterling chose to keep the factory open. 1980s to 1990s In 1988, Sterling was acquired by Eastman Kodak for $5.1 billion. In 1993, Eastman Kodak/Sterling Winthrop partnered with a French pharmaceutical company Elf Sanofi (now known as Sanofi Aventis). In June 1994, Eastman Kodak sold the prescription drug business of its Sterling Winthrop subsidiary to Sanofi for US$1.675 billion and the return of Kodak's minority stake in Sterling Health Europe. A week later, Sanofi announced that it was not interested in the diagnostic imaging business, which it sold to the Norwegian company Hafslund Nycomed AS for US$450 million. In August 1994, Kodak sold the remainder of Sterling Winthrop, including its over the counter drug business which had been generating about $1 billion in revenue annually, to the British firm SmithKline Beecham for US$2.925 billion cash. Bayer was a losing bidder for the purchase of Sterling Winthrop, but in September 1994, it purchased the over the counter division of Sterling Winthrop in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico from SmithKline Beecham for $1 billion. Bayer also re-acquired the brand rights to the "Bayer Aspirin" name it had lost because of World War I. Spinoffs from the sale of Sterling include Starwin Products, created in 1987 from Sterling's original branch in Ghana. The Lehn & Fink division was acquired by Reckitt & Colman (now Reckitt Benckiser) at the time of the deal. Products Demerol APAP Mebaral Novocain Luminal NegGram Talwin Compound Caplets Plaquenil Demerol Aralen Danocrine Bilopaque Winstrol Telepaque Talwin pHisoDerm Lotusate References Further reading Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States Health care companies based in New York (state) Pharmaceutical companies established in 1901 Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 1994 1901 establishments in West Virginia 1994 disestablishments in New York (state) WIN compounds Bayer Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York City